Commas Colons and Semicolons

You don't use a comma to show possession at all (for example, "Shirley,s mug.") You use an apostrophe ("Shirley's mug"), and it does come before the s. If there's more than one Shirley ("I'm going to the Shirleys' house to get my mug"), the apostrophe comes after the s.

If you are writing for a formal purpose, you should not begin a sentence with a preposition, as because may be. In informal writing, however, it is acceptable to begin a sentence with because. A comma would only be used to separate another clause or phrase.

Examples :

"Because of the new evidence, the conviction was overturned."

"Because, in this particular case, there is another phrase, commas are used to indicate the separation."

Yes, in a formal letter or email, the comma is placed after the word "sincerely" before your name. For example: Sincerely, [Your Name].

An appositive phrase renames a noun and is set off by commas.

Example:
My brother, Brian, likes spaghetti.

In a list, commas are used to separate individual items. For example, in a list of fruits like "apples, bananas, and oranges," the comma is used to separate each fruit. The comma before "and" in the list is known as the Oxford comma, and it is optional depending on the style guide being followed.

A comma is not needed when a sentence include an extra phrase that begins with and. This is a standard rule.

A comma is typically needed before a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses or to separate items in a list. It is also used after introductory phrases or clauses at the beginning of a sentence.

The colon (:) is a punctuation mark, consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.

To make the sentence clearer, you should add two commas. It would read: "I think Robert, Mary Jane, Andrea, Lee Ann, and I should be the members of the committee."

The sentence should be: "The part-time job begins Saturday, November 21, and ends Saturday, January 2." Commas are used before and after the day of the week and the date to separate them from the rest of the sentence.

Yes, use commas before and after the phrase "as well as" when it is used to introduce additional information in a sentence. For example: "I enjoy hiking, as well as biking."

When a sentence has a semicolon it just means that its adding something to the sentences. Like for example: No one was seriously hurt in the accident; one man suffered a broken finger. This is what the semicolon means in a sentences.

A sentence IS one. That is the definition for an independent clause. It means that the sentence is complete and can stand on its own, therefore its independent.

Example: We lit some fireworks when it was dark.

A dependent clause is a sentence fragment. It is not a complete sentence.

Example: when it was dark

The first one is complete. If you just wrote the second one, it couldn't stand alone as we don't know the other information about it.

Before.

Example:

I would have punctuated correctly, but the friendly folks on answers.com were misinformed.

Yes, a comma should be placed before "i.e." to separate it from the rest of the sentence.

you would only need to use a comma if you were writing a messege like this ex. Hi Mary, how are you? but if it was a conversation it could be Hi Mary ! ( or period)

No, a comma does not go after a name all the time. One puts a comma between a the names in a list. The people that are coming on Wednesday are Mary, John, James, Ingrid and Jo.

A comma simply means that there is a slight pause in the flow of the sentence; if you know how you would speak that sentence out loud, you can put commas where you pause. The function of these pauses is to break the sentence up into clauses which form self-contained thoughts, or in some cases, to separate different items on a list.

You would never capitalize a word because of the comma. Onlt capitalize it if it's a word that is always capitalized like France, I, Tuesday or Frederick.

The positioning of commas depends upon phrases, not single words. There would often be commas before the word "whose" but there are also grammatical sentences in which that word is not preceded by a comma. Examples: We wish to thank Mrs. Smith, whose donation has made all of this possible. Whose wallet is this?

not necessarily in fact never use semicolons or any punctuation at all if you wish & dare just stack your concise blocks of thought & leave spaces between them as warranted & if you are clear about what you mean most people will understand you perfectly

You can achieve this format using the following custom number format: "$#,##0.00". This format will display the dollar sign to the left of the number and insert commas for thousands separator.

Not necessarily. For example: I was walking down the street when I saw a man who needed help. Three clauses, no commas.